City council profiles — Lesley Devine
Calabasas founder wants to continue serving
By Michael Picarella
pic@theacorn.com

Lesley Devine

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

That’s the way Lesley Devine feels about the current race for Calabasas City Council.

The well-managed city is a wonderful place to live, mainly because it has good leaders, said Devine, one of seven candidates in the March 8 election.

Devine, Councilmember James Bozajian and Mayor Michael Harrison are incumbents seeking reelection.

Devine has served on the city council since Calabasas incorporated in 1991. She said she’s been instrumental in protecting the high quality of life that the city offers, including its excellent parks, shopping areas and schools, and the feeling of safety that most residents enjoy.

"I truly believe that the last of the Old West—Calabasas—is the best of the new west," Devine said.

The planned Calabasas Civic Center is a result of the city’s strong leadership, Devine said. Although the three incumbents have been attacked for spending too much time and money on the project, there has been little waste, she said.

"I’m proud of our work on the civic center," Devine said. "Eight years ago when I was mayor for the first time I personally negotiated with a representative of Kilroy (the company that owned the current civic center site located on Park Sorrento) and brought two things to the community in those negotiations. One: The project was reduced from 1.4 million square feet, which would have been seven-story office buildings, to 750,000 square feet."

The city bought the current civic center site for less than $3 million, Devine points out. "What we’re sitting on (today) is a $10 million to $15 million piece of property.

"We needed someplace to put a civic center," Devine said. "We got a piece of land for a rate where we were just paying off a county loan on it."

While serving her second term as mayor in 2003, Devine was instrumental in helping the city get an $8.2 million state grant which will help pay for a library at the new civic center.

"We went like thunder after that grant," Devine said. The city tried for over two years to attain the grant and finally did so after creating a joint-use agreement with Las Virgenes Unified School District.

"People don’t know how much work and how many people it takes to do something like that. That doesn’t happen over-night."

Devine said California State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) helped the city capture the grant. Kuehl is now endorsing Devine’s reelection.

"So, between saving $7 million to $10 million, minimum, on land costs, and getting another $8.2 million grant, we’ve saved a lot of money," said Devine, who worked as an environmental planner for many years in addition to her service with the city.

Devine also was a major force behind the creation of Spotlight the Arts, a volunteer group that is raising money to build a theater at the civic center.

Last year, Devine struggled in a battle again cancer, but announced, "I’m now cancer-free."

During her treatment and recuperation, Devine often participated in city council meetings via telephone from her home.

Some of Devine’s next goals include building more city hiking trails, helping purchase the Soka University campus for open space, bringing a preschool to the west side of Calabasas—Devine and others already have four sites in mind—and opening two more city parks.

Devine said she’s also been endorsed by the Sierra Club, Los Angeles Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and others.